"Get Ready, Get Set, Go!”

I remember hearing these words somewhere in my youth. Have you ever heard these words? I don't remember exactly where or why I have heard them but today they are going to apply to your golf game. It seems like a "golf” set of words to me so we are going to use them for your lesson today.

"Get ready.” There are several get ready's. First is the get ready to develop your golf swing. Next is to learn the shots you need to play good golf any where. The next get ready is when you get to the course and warm up for the round. And of course you need to get ready for the shot you are faced with.

Get Ready #1, Develop your swing: Notice the words - develop YOUR swing. That's exactly what you will do with the five Concept Golf swing principles. Those simple five principles give you the mental foundation so you can develop YOUR swing. Those principles make your swing development simple and quick. Once your swing is developed, you will spend only a little time practicing and little, if any, time fixing it. OK, your first get ready is done.

Get Ready #2, The shots you need: This is not just a drive and a wedge and a putt. These are straight, low, high, low fade, high fade, high draw, low draw for long shots. Learn to hit a shot that will not go left and a shot that will not go right. Learn how far you hit each club in your bag. How far do YOU hit them, not some standard measurement. The shorter clubs need the high and the low trajectory. Learn the short pitch shots with the pitching wedge and the sand wedge. That ranges from very high and soft to very low and running with the pitching wedge. Learn these shots from fluffy lies and from tight lies. Learn how to putt well from 10' and closer, actually from 6' and closer. Learn right-breaking and left-breaking putts of 5' and less.

Get Ready #3, Warm up: This is getting ready for the round today. This is a time to prepare your body for the job at hand - to play 18 holes of golf. Start with a few short wedge shots, 25-30 yards. Loosen up gradually. Then a few short 7-irons of about 75 to 120 yards. Then stretch them out to your full distance. Now you are ready to hit a couple 5-irons at full distance. Now a few 3-woods off the ground and then a few tee shots with whatever club you use for that.

All this warm-up time is for is two things. First, loosing your body for the job at hand and second, finding out how your shots are going today. Each day is different and you are different each day. DON'T TRY TO BE THE SAME OR HIT SHOTS EXACTLY THE SAME WAY EVERY DAY. Use the warm-up time to find out who you are today and then adjust your game to who you are today. Do not try to make your shots fit who you think you are supposed to be every day. Be flexible in your approach to your game because you are a different person every day.

There are some - maybe more than a few - who think they must be the same every day. That means that if the shots are not going exactly right on the range during warm-up, their swing must be fixed. They are not going to play with what they have, they are going to try to play with what they think they ought to have. By the time they go to the first tee they have no clue what direction the ball could go. Now, that is a real feeling of confidence.

Rather that trying to fix your swi

ng during your warm-up, just play with what you have. Your chances of success are quite high if you dance with what brung 'ya rather than trying to fix your swing. If you really insist on fixing your swing, do it after the round

Get Ready #4, Your current shot: Every shot is brand new. Even though you think you have hit that exact shot many times before, it is really brand new. You are new each day and the wind or the pin, or the grass, or something makes the shot a new one. Similar in many ways to a shot you had some time but still brand new. The question then is how to prepare for a new shot.

For a tee shot on a par 4 and par 5, have your plan and a very specific target. Check the wind and anything that may affect your shot. Know how the wind or the cold or whatever you are dealing with will affect your shot. Know where you want your ball to end up and why you want it there. It should make the next shot the easiest. Your target should very small, like the edge of a tree trunk rather than the whole tree. With your shot determined, keep the picture of the target in mind and deliver the ball to your target.

An iron shot from the fairway is also affected by the lie as well as the things mentioned above for the tee shot. Is your ball sitting up or is it on bare ground? Is your lie on flat ground or are there some angles you need to deal with? How will that affect your shot? You need to know how these things will affect your shot.

You also must know the golfer. What is the golfer really capable of? Is he playing within his ability or at the ragged edge of hopefulness? Is he trying to hit shots he has never practiced or never succeeded at? Is he trying to drive the ball with 100% of his strength or staying within himself at 80%? Is this a day when you are not hitting the ball quite solidly so are conservative in your target selection? Or are you having a very good ball-striking day so you can be aggressive and play for the pins?

It seems the Get Ready is a bit involved - and it is. When you are playing, all these decisions should take only moments. Learning your swing is not too involved. Learning the shots you need to play golf will take some time, some learning, some watching the best players, some experimentation.

Get Set is simple. Make a forward press and Go, swing. It's just like many things in life, the preparation is where most of the effort lies. Good preparation yields good results. Caution: Don't spend all of your time in preparation. The good players shoot low numbers; they cannot be stuck on the driving range.

 Previous      Next